Month: April 2007

District del Sol

Posted on by erik

Mercado By Erik Hare

Of all the neighborhoods in Saint Paul, the most interesting one of all is gearing up for their big party of the year – Cinco de Mayo.

The District del Sol is well known as the predominantly Mexican part of the West Side. It has mercados, cambinos and restaurantes that offer sights and smells and delicious eats not known in many other neighborhoods. It’s not just a marketing gimmick, but the fabric of a community with a long history.

Immigrants have always arrived to the West Side, lured by affordable housing just across the bridges from Downtown. The first groups were German and Irish, but gradually everyone came to the West Side. The Mexican population of the West Side dates back to the 1920s. By the end of World War II, they had come to be the largest of the many ethnic groups. The institutions, from St. Mark’s Church to Humboldt High to the stores, gradually came to have a distinctly Hispanic flavor.

Like any other ethnic group, the Mexicans had little when they arrived. Poverty and other social issues were met with a strong community spirit that built up as each generation achieved a bigger piece of the American Dream. In the 1980s the Riverview Economic Development Association (REDA) was formed.

REDA operates like a neighborhood sized  Chamber of Commerce. They are tireless promoters ofCinco3_2 businesses in the district, and use their heritage as both the glue that holds everyone together and a sales pitch. Their efforts are what make the neighborhood not just unique in character, but very much in charge of their own destiny. Each year they put on the Cinco de Mayo celebration.

What will make this celebration so special is it is the 25th annual Cinco de Mayo. It’s a great time to celebrate the faith of the past and the promise of the future. To District del Sol, these are both bound up in the brave immigrant spirit that makes them both unique and strong.

The 2007 Cinco de Mayo Fiesta – Minnesota’s Spiciest Celebration – will take place on Friday, May 4 from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, May 5 from 9:00 a.m to 5:30 p.m. in the District del Sol on Saint Paul’s West Side, Robert and Cesar Chavez.

Cinco2

1 Comment

Bugs that sing

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

There are some weird people on  internet.  I never really believed it until last summer when I became aware of a demented blogger lurking on StPaulRealEstateblog.com.  He shows up in my comments and on my side bar as a spider.  I thought there was something wrong with my browser at first so I switched to Firefox which is not as buggy. 

Larry_cragunI found an old photo of him that according to the people at the post office was taken in the 1970’s.  I am told that he is around 120 years old and has been a REALTOR and Mortgage broker for the last 100 years.  He once told a reporter that he spent his first commission on a model T and that he really wishes he would have kept the car.

On one of his blogs, Mortgages Undressed, Larry Cragun, if that is his real name,  runs a post every Saturday called "bugs undressed"  he posts disgusting pictures of insects and asks his readers not to bug him on Saturday, which leads me to believe that he may be a mortgage broker  posing as a REALTOR .  Lenders play golf on Saturdays while REALTORS are out working.    I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because at his age he probably deserves a day off.

Singingbug_2 Here is a recent picture of Larry.  Apparently he is also a singer.  Please click on the link and listen to Larry’s song.  He is pretty talented.

Have a great day, don’t bug Larry.                                                                     

Lcbusbench

Thanks to Bonnie Erickson of Real Estate Snippets for sending the link to the singing bug.

8 Comments

Fashion Statements

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Tbglasses Friday at last!  Fridays are for fun and work too but only if someone makes me.

The picture is one that my husband Jack took last night.   Some have seen my half  face avatar on the Internet and suggested that I only have half a face.  The truth is I have an entire face but my half face picture symbolizes that I only have half a brain, which is twice as much as I need to do my job, anymore and it would just get me in trouble.

This is for my friend Jackie Beermann, who is also a Keller Williams agent.  Jackie thinks it is pretty funny that I wear two pair of glasses at the same time. I think some people are just jealous because they can’t pull off this look.  It does make a fashion statement and it will catch on.  They will start making glasses that look like two pair of glasses so people can sport the look without getting their hair all tangled in the two sets of frames, or having to find, and keep track of two pair of glasses.

The truth is I can’t see.  My vision was close to perfect not very long ago. I used to be able to wear sun glasses and read the GPS system in my car, now I can’t.  Even with reading glasses I can’t  see the little circles with the little gray words next to them on MLS input sheet.  I guess I could get fined for writing MLS in a blog post, I wonder if they print the warning letters in the same six point font that they use on the MLS input sheets?

The TV schedule is also impossible to read. I really should get a magnifying glass but I don’t watch enough TV, so it would just become one more item to dust.  The great thing about not being able to see is that I can’t see the dust in my office.  When I touch something I can tell that it is time to dust but at least I don’t have to look at it all day.

Another agent, also with Keller Williams, who doesn’t know me well enough to be very afraid, and is located a safe distance away,  suggested that perhaps I am getting old. That can’t be the reason for failing eyesight. I have been told that the memory goes first.  I just wish I could remember who told me that.

Have a great weekend, drive safely and don’t worry about what other people think if you need to wear two pair of glasses so you can see your GPS system, and try to remember to come back to my blog sometime.

9 Comments

Advertising disguised as transparency

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Homethinking This is a screen shot of the agent review section found on the  www.homethinking.com web site.  I have written about this site before, explaining how it includes most of the agents in the US, and how I managed to opt out when I discovered that my information was wrong.   I don’t see any value to consumers from this site, which allows people to anonymously post comments about real estate agents.  The site exists to sell ads to agents and nothing more, yet it is disguised as a tool consumers can use to find a qualified REALTOR.   Agents who pay for the ads come up to the top as consumers search for a REALTOR.

When it was first launched the public agent reviews were promoted.  A home seller or buyer are supposed to be able to use the site to get information about local agents.  In the screen shot above the person giving the feed back is "Anon" which is short for anonymous.  The feedback could be valid but there is no way of knowing.  The agents could have put the feedback in themselves,  Negative feedback could be entered anonymously by a competing agent.

Is the feedback from "anon" valid?  Is it as useful as interviewing an agent or getting recommendations from friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers or anyone else who has actually done business with the agent? 

When searching for a home or a real estate agent consider the source.  Consider the possibility that anonymous posters to a web site may not be reliable sources of information.  Transparency is the buzz word these days.    Instead of giving us transparency, they are getting advertising revenue from real estate agents, and offering agent reviews for consumers by Anon.

See also The Truth About Real Estate Companies


6 Comments

Leitner’s

Posted on by Teresa Boardman

Leitner’s Garden Center 945 Randolph Ave St Paul MN 55102-3346  Phone: 651-291-2655

I took Monday afternoon off, it might have been because it was sunny and in the 70’s or maybe I was tired after putting in a couple of 12 hour days over the weekend.

This time of year I have gardening on my mind, so I ran over to the local garden center to buy some seeds and get some ideas.

I have been shopping at Leitner’s for as long as I can remember.  Plants and garden supplies can be purchased just about anywhere including the big box stores, but I chose Leitner’s because it is a neighborhood business, and the plants, with a few exceptions come from local growers.  The garden center is beautiful, close to home, and has everything I need. 

There is also that old fashioned customer service thing, like last mothers day when I wanted a certain combination of begonias in a pot.  I selected the plants I wanted, and a beautiful ceramic pot.  I brought it to the potters bench and they took care of the rest. The staff at Leitner’s is knowledgeable and I see familiar faces year after year. If I ask a question I get an answer, if the employee can’t answer it, they find someone who can. 

Most of the plants will be arriving at Leitner’s within the next two weeks.  They also have landscaping supplies, tools, trellises , dirt, bird food, fresh cut flowers and more. In all of the years I have shopped at Leitner’s no matter how busy they are I have never had to load anything that weighs more than a few pounds into my car, in fact any attempt on my part to do so has been intercepted by the ever watchful lot crew.

For those who are new to gardening there are several books available at Leitner’s that are for Minnesota gardeners.  Gardening is a great way to dress up your home, meet yours neighbors and make St. Paul beautiful.

What do I grow?  With seven flower beds and vegetable gardens, nine window boxes, and other assorted planters and hanging baskets, just about everything!  Growing corn in the garden has been a challenge because it is supposed to be planted when the leaves on the oak tree are the size of a squirrels ear, there are no oak trees on our block.

(more…)

5 Comments